25 years of Dil Chahta Hai: The film that changed how Bollywood looked at friendship, youth and growing up

There are films that become hits, films that become classics, and then there are films that become part of a generation’s vocabulary. Dil Chahta Hai, directed by Farhan Akhtar, falls into the last category

The film was released on August 10, 2001, and we now complete 25 years after the dilm. Dil Chahta Hai started as a unique story of 3 friends who are approaching adulthood, love, and how their relationships develop over time. After so many years, characters like Akash, Sameer, and Siddharth are and will always be in our heart because they remind us of the friends we had.

Before Aamir, Saif and Akshaye, Farhan had another trio in mind

Today it’s difficult to imagine anyone in the role of Akash, Sameer and Siddharth other than Aamir Khan, Saif Ali Khan and Akshaye Khanna. However, while talking about the casting of the movie, Farhan Akhtar mentioned that earlier he had the following actors in mind: Akshaye Khanna, Hrithik Roshan and Abhishek Bachchan.

Of the three, Akshaye Khanna was the only one who was ready to take part in the project. However, he didn’t get to play the role that Farhan initially discussed with him.

In fact, Farhan approached Akshaye for Akash, the role that later went to Aamir. When Aamir found out about the movie, he wanted to take on his role as Akash instead of Siddharth.

Thus, Akshaye’s flexibility contributed greatly to the success of the casting process.

Saif Ali Khan almost said no to Sameer

Saif Ali Khan’s Sameer might be the most charming character in the movie but the actor himself had some reservations about playing this role. Saif was not really comfortable about the character of Sameer and how it was shown particularly in the second half of the film.

According to reports, Dimple Kapadia persuaded Saif to reconsider this role while Javed Akhtar assured him that there was nothing to worry about. Eventually, Saif took the plunge into playing the role which gave him one of his most memorable characters.

Today, it is almost impossible to imagine the film without his impeccable comic timing, romantic clumsiness and simple living philosophy.

25-year-old Farhan Akhtar took a huge risk

Farhan Akhtar was only twenty-five when he made his debut film Dil Chahta Hai.

And it shows the confidence in that film. Farhan didn’t choose to make a larger-than-life love story or family drama or revenge saga which is the norm of mainstream Hindi cinema at that time. Instead, he chose to tell the story of three young men who are facing the challenges of life.

The film was centered around conversations, silences, friendship, arguments, and the uncomfortable reality that people can grow apart without necessarily stopping loving each other.

Dil Chahta Hai did not treat friendship as an accessory to the hero’s romantic journey. Friendship was the story.

Three friends, three very different ideas of life

At the centre of the movie stood three characters, who could not be more different from one another.

Akash was the carefree friend who had issues with commitment and was often unable to take anything seriously.

Sameer was the romantic who was always falling in and out of love, and yet he was in search of something real.

Siddharth, on the other hand, was more reflective and emotionally evolved, as he experienced love in a much more complex way.

It is exactly these differences that make their friendship believable.

The movie understood something that many a film dealing with friendship has missed: best friends do not have to think in the same way. Best friends can argue, disagree, fall in love with different people and even break up for a longer time. What is important, however, is what is left when they reunite.

The Goa trip became a cultural moment

If Dil Chahta Hai offered Bollywood a new language for friendship, it also provided an entire generation with a new concept of the ultimate trip to Goa. The Goa sequences in the film, comprising the memorable scenes at Chapora Fort, became inextricably linked to the movie’s identity.

The film was shot in Mumbai, Goa and Sydney, giving the film a visual style that felt much more universal and modern than what viewers were used to in mainstream Hindi films at that time.

With Dil Chahta Hai, Goa lost its status of just being a tourist destination; it became closely linked with friendship, road trips, liberty and that precious time of life when the concept of responsibilities becomes blurred.

And then there was the music

It is impossible to talk about Dil Chahta Hai without talking about its music. The team of Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy has given us an unforgettable album for the movie bearing the lyrics by Javed Akhtar. All the songs from the title track Dil Chahta Hai, Kaisi Hai Yeh Rut, Tanhayee, and others offer an insight into the development of music.

It was A.R. Rahman who was initially contacted to compose the music, but was unable to take up the offer due to his time constraints and so Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy gets the chance to produce brilliant and unique music.

The final result was an amazingly original album that stood apart from other musical pieces composed for Hindi movies at that time, thus establishing Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy among the most prominent music professionals of that time.

The film wasn’t afraid of uncomfortable emotions

The best thing about this movie is that it constitutes a brilliant piece of art filled with remarkable ideas.

Siddhart’s love for the older, divorced, and beautiful Tara played by Dimple Kapadia initiates great emotional turmoil for Siddhart. The love story challenges the norm of love as understood traditionally in Hindi cinema at that time.

Nevertheless, the film fails to define Tara merely as a scandal or a plot device. Rather it unpacks Siddhart’s emotions in a remarkably empathic manner.

Akash’s story mirrors Siddhart’s story as it is also a tale of learning the value of relationships in one’s life before they get lost.

And finally, Sameer’s tale conveys that being a source of comic relief does not imply emotional blankness.

Why does Dil Chahta Hai still feel so current?

Maybe it’s simply because the movie has never been really about what happened in 2001; it’s all about changing from a carefree youth to an adult with responsibilities, choices, and relation.

Twenty-five years later, things have changed a lot: technologies, trends, and methods of communication among young people. But the main issues have stayed the same:

Will I still be close to my friends? What if we go different ways? Is it possible to keep friendship when a person becomes an adult? Can you love someone and still remain yourself? How do you deal with the fact that growing up does not always mean growing closer?

That is probably why Dil Chahta Hai still attracts more viewers. It represents one particular generation, and at the same time, it has become relevant for all the generations that appeared later. It is probably the greatest success of Farhan Akhtar: he made a movie about three friends, but millions of people can see themselves in it.

Dil chahta hai. Aur shayad hamesha chahta rahega.